Heirloom Gardening
Whilst visiting the
beautiful coastal town of Metung in Victoria, we bought some Heirloom, or
sometimes called Heritage, seeds from one of the stallholders at the ‘Local Growers’
market.
We live in an Alpine
area with frosty winter nights, which is not the easiest climate for growing
winter vegetables, but I was delighted to find a few varieties available.
Now, Heirlooms are
varieties of many of the fruits, flowers and vegetables, which we know and love
today. The difference being they grow in their original form from many years
ago. Did you know that carrots were once yellow or white? That capsicums and
potatoes were purple?
Take a look at this link
to see some AMAZING multicoloured corn varieties. www.masterchef.com.au/glass-gem-corn.htm
Some Heirloom fruits
and vegetables are readily available to buy at markets and grocery stores, but
many you will have to grow yourself. There are a few online outlets you can
purchase Heirloom seeds, plus seed swops and grower markets.
I don’t have room to
grow corn, but my children’s school has an Environment Centre, so I have
encouraged them to grow the plants which require more space, in the spring. I am trying
beetroot, crimson flowering broad beans, endives and broccoli to start with, as these grow well in the winter.
Right! Better get these
things into the ground..let’s see how we go over the next few weeks!
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| image by MonaMakela |
I have included some links to sites for further reading and obtaining
seeds.
Be careful when buying seeds from
online sites, as we have extremely strict laws regarding the import of seed
into Australia.
